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Alice Walker The Color Purple The Color Purple by
Alice Walker is the story of a poor black woman
living in the south between World War 1 and World
War 2. This was at a time when, although slavery
had ended,many women were still virtually in
bondage, and had to put up with many conditions
that was reminiscent of the days of slavery. The
problem was that they had to endure being treated
like an inferior being by their own families
sometimes, as well as from the white people that
lived there. It was a life that was filled with
misery for many black women, and they felt
helpless to do anything about their situations.
The book focuses mainly on a woman named Celie,
who has lived a hard life already when, at the age
of 14 she begins writing letters to God to have
someone to confide in,and tell her thoughts and
secrets to. In her first letter, she says I have
always been a good girl.

Maybe you can give me a
sign letting me know what is happening to me. (1)
Already at that age she has been taking care of
her brothers and sister, and has been working very
hard at trying to get something of an education.
On top of this, she has been raped by her father
repeatedly because, as he says, You gonna do what
your mammy wouldnt. (1) She has had two babies by
him already, and hes taken both of them away right
after they were born. She thinks at first he might
have killed one of them, but later finds out that
he sold them to a couple in town. Celie doesnt do
anything about her situation, because shes used to
being treated like that.

Shes scared, and she
fears for her sister Nettie too, when her Pa
starts looking at her the same way. Eventually, a
man referred to as Mr. comes along and wants to
marry Nettie, but hes too old for her, and ends up
marrying Celie. He takes a couple of months to
think it over, but goes ahead and marries her
because he needs someone to watch over his kids,
and besides, she will bring the cow she was
raising along. Its not so much he wants a
relationship, he just wants someone to take care
of things for him so he doesnt have to do much,
and he wants something else when he wants it.

Her
father even tells Mr. that She ugly.. But she
aint no stranger to hard work. And she clean. And
God fixed her.

You can do everything just like you
want to and she aint gonna make you feed it or
clothe it. (9) As soon as she is married, she is
being abused by Mr. . She has to work the fields,
raise his children (one of which splits her head
open with a rock on the day she gets married), and
endure beatings whenever he gets mad about
something and wants to take it out on her. One
time when Mr.

is asked by his son Harpo why he
beats Celie, he tells him Cause she my wife. Plus,
she stubborn. All women good for- he dont finish.
(23) She tells God about how He beat me like he
beat the children... Cept he dont never hardly
beat them. He say, Celie, git the belt.

The
children be outside the room peeking through the
cracks. It all I can do not to cry. I make myself
wood. I say to myself, Celie, you a tree. Thats
how come I know trees fear man.

(23) And so life
goes on for her, until she meets a couple of women
that change her life around. The first woman she
meets is Sophia, who marries Harpo. She isnt
afraid to stand up for herself, even to a man.
When Mr. asks Harpo if he ever hits her, Harpo
is embarrassed, and answers that he hasnt. So Mr.

tells him he should, because Wives is like
children. You have to let em know who got the
upper hand. Nothing can do that better than a good
sound beating. (37) While he may have thought he
gave his son some good advice, when Harpo tries
it, Sophia knocks him right back into place by
beating him up instead. When Celie and Sophia talk
about Mr.

, Sophia tells her You ought to bash
Mr. head open.(37), but she knows she would
never get away with it. Shes just coping with
things as they are because that was the way shed
always been raised and treated. Its almost normal
to her, but at the same time, she admires the way
Sophia can fend for herself, and I think she
wished she was brave enough to do the same. Sophia
finally leaves Harpo because of the way she is
treated, but Celie finds out that shes not so
lucky when she shows her attitude to the Mayor and
his wife in town one day.

When shes asked if shed
like to be a maid, she replies Hell, no. When the
mayor asks her what she said, she repeats it, and
he slaps her. With that, Sophia hits him back, and
ends up getting beaten up herself, and put in
jail. She gets out after Mr. and some others
come up with a plan, but has to spend the rest of
her sentence as a maid, living under the house
where she is working off the rest of her time.

The
lesson for Celie (and others) is that although
Sophia got away with standing up to Harpo and
other black people, she found out that she couldnt
get away with it around everyone. The other person
that changes Celies life and finally gives her
some self confidence is Shug Avery, a singer that
coincidentally was in love with Mr. years
before. They wanted to get married, but couldnt
because he was forced to marry another woman that
was arranged for him. In another kind of twist,
Shug is very mean to Celie when she first arrives
at their house to get over being sick, and it is
because she is somewhat jealous of Celie being
married to the man she wanted to marry.

Also, one
of the reasons that Mr. beat Celie sometimes was
because he was married to her, and she wasnt Shug.
After some time, the two women get to talking and
find that they do like each other, eventually
ending up being just more than friends. They form
a strong friendship, and Celie finally realizes
what it is like to be in love with someone else,
not like a sister, but more like a mate, even
though Shug is not a man. Over the years they get
closer and closer, and one night, even though ...